1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an outline detection apparatus, an outline detection method, and a program thereof.
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-069227, filed on Mar. 16, 2007, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of Related Art
In the field of dentistry, medical treatments by the ceramic crown method and the like are performed. In this ceramic crown method, a crown (a prosthetic crown made of ceramics) with a color similar to that of the original tooth of a patient is fabricated, and then is placed on the tooth of the patient. In the medical treatment by the ceramic crown method, fabrication of a crown as a prosthesis is indispensable.
Here, to fabricate a crown, an application software for taking an image of a tooth of a patient to allow a dentist or a dental technician to correctly examine the color and shape of the tooth is required.
In such an application, a technology for correctly detecting the outline of a tooth is required. As a technology relevant to the present invention, there is disclosed a technology for detecting a boundary of a surface of biological mucosae in an image taken by an endoscope to detect the presence of biological mucosae with different descriptions. (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2006-166990)